The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 328: what you’re looking at

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THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 317 who can no longer be spoken of as the Duchess of Marehmont P”—and teare of compassion trickled down Indora’s cheeks as she gave utterance to these words. “The unfortanate lady of whom your Majesty 8 ” rejained Mr. Coleman, “is kneeling by the bed-side of her husband. The village clergy- man has just arrived; and the perishing sinner is joining with him in prayer-———” “But Lavinia?” esid the Queen, in aevents of most mournful inquiry. “That lady who is so deeply to be pitied,” re. sponded Ooleman, “seems as if she likewise had received her death-blow. She is overwhelmed with grief and herror. She looks as if she were in a dream—in a kind of half-stapor which numbe the intensity of her affliction. She van searcely betieve that ali she has heard is true. Was it not a di ecene, madam, when your Majesty broke to the unbappy iedy the terrifio intelli- gence P” “It was a scone,” answered Indora, shuddering at the bare recollection, “which I never, never can forget,—a scene which will often hereafter baunt me; for the wild shriek which rang forth from Lavinia’s lips is still sounding in my ears. Ob, yeo—it was a frightfal ecene! And yet I was in a measure prepared for it: for I had previously granted the unhappy lady an interview, before the mgs in the tribunal commenced. And in thet interview I had endeavoured te p Lavinia’s mind as much as possible for something dreadful. But, Oh! when I sought her a second time, and began breaking the frightful intelligence as delicately as I could——Oh ! Mr. Coleman, the spectacle of anguish that I witneseed cannot pos- sibly be described! Ah! it is terrible to reflect that in performing an act of justice—in proclaim. ing wrong and making right come uppermost—the consequences should redoand with such appalling power apon the head of an innocent person !” The Queen wiped away the tears from her eyes ; and after a brief pause, Mr. Coleman inquired, “Where are that brother and sister ?—where are those whom we must now call the Duke of March: mont and Lady Christina Vivian pP”’ “I keft them alone together after that dreadful scene when their wretched relative fell at their feet and confessed his stupendous guilt. He was removed to the chamber up-stairs ; and then I said enough to my young friends to make thtin com- prehend how it was that they belonged to the ducal house of Marchmont, and that Christian wee now the bearer of the proud title. Yes—I left that young brother and sister alone together, that they might weep for joy and for grief in each other’s arms,—for joy at this wondrous change in their circumstances, and for grief as they thought of their perished parents. I will now seek them ; and before I retire to rest, I will likewise sec that unhappy lady the ides of whose grief fills my own heart with woe.” “ And J, with your Majesty's permission, will ‘at once repair to London,” said Mr. Coleman, “ to com- municate the results of this night’s proceedings to him who is so deeply interested in them.” “But not until his unbappy brother shall have breathed his last,” rejoined the Queen, “ must you proclaim to the world how guilt has been made manifest and bow innocence is vindicated.” Mr. Coleman bowed in acknowledgment of In- dcra’s command; and he then took a respectful leave of the Queen, who forthwith proceuded to the apartment where she had left Christian and Christina nearly an hour back. OHAPTER CXLVIL DEATH. It were scarcely possible to convey an idea of the feelings experienced by the twins on contem- plating their suddenly altered position. That Ohbristian chould be the bearer of a ducal titl— that Ohristina should now have a patrician prefix to her name--were facts which they could scarcely comprehend. They who had believed themselves to belong to a family in the middle-class of life, had now been told that they bore one of the loftiest names in the British Peerage. Moreover, they who not a very long while beck hed known the pinching need of penury, and had moistened poverty’s crust with their tears, were to be now surrounded by almost boundless wealth and to be in the posses- sion of immense means of doing good. As yet they were unacquainted with all the minute detaile which so intimately concerned the mystery of their birth: bat Queen Indora had told them suflicient to make them aware that they were the children of that Duke of Marchmont of whoee murder they had read and heard, and at which they hed shuddered,—the children of that Duchess Elisa for whose sorrows they had wept thoagh at the same time believing her to have been the guilty paramour of Bertram Vivien. But now they knew that their mother was innocest— that neither previous to ber departure from Oek- lands, nor subsequent to it, had she deviated from the path of rectitade—and that though she and Ber- tram had loved fondly and devotedly, yet that this love of theirs had not betrayed them into error. Christian and Christina could therefore look with- out shame upon the memory of their anbeppy mother: but not the lees painfal were the tears which they shed when reflecting how much that poor mother must have saffered ere ehe sank into her nameless grave in an obscure village church. yard in a distant county! And the twins wept painfully too as they thought of their unhappy sire, who when wandering forth in his despeir, and in the silence of night, had met his death from the hand of an assassin. These were peinful retrospections traly; and mingling with the cun- sciousness of rank and wealth and brilliant posi- tion, they taught the twins the world’s invariable lesson—that there is no perfect happiness upon earth, and that however high the chalice may be filled with honey, there is to be at least one drop of gall mingled with ite contents. And now too Christian and Christina were en. abled to regard as a relation that noble-minded man whom, as Mr. Hedcliffe, they had known as a friend and a benefactor: and Ob! how they re- joiced that bis innocence had been made manifest. But here again was the gall mingling with the honey: for if on the one hand the startling reve- lations of this night had rendered them aware that they had a relative of whom they could be proud, cS) (CO COMME HOG